Q 01/05

In which modern country do the ruins of ancient Carthage lie?

A) Libya

B) Tunisia

C) Morocco

D) Lebanon

Answer · why

B) Tunisia

Tunisia: Rome wiped the city out in 146 BC, yet about a century later Romans rebuilt it on the same spot, and the new Carthage became the capital of t...

Q 02/05

The Romans' word 'Punic' for the Carthaginians originally meant what?

A) Sea-going

B) Phoenician

C) African

D) Enemy

Answer · why

B) Phoenician

Phoenician: Carthage was founded by settlers from Tyre, on the coast of what is now Lebanon, and the Romans went on calling their descendants Poeni fo...

Q 03/05

Which Greek historian of the Punic Wars watched Carthage fall in 146 BC?

A) Plutarch

B) Appian

C) Polybius

D) Diodorus

Answer · why

C) Polybius

Polybius: brought to Rome as a hostage, he befriended its leading generals, questioned men who had fought Hannibal and went over an Alpine pass himsel...

Q 04/05

At the start of the First Punic War, what did Rome conspicuously lack?

A) Cavalry

B) Allies

C) Siege engines

D) A navy

Answer · why

D) A navy

A navy: Rome had to borrow ships from Greek cities in southern Italy just to ferry its legions across the strait, while Carthage was the leading sea p...

Q 05/05

Control of which Sicilian city, on the strait facing Italy, sparked the First Punic War?

A) Messana

B) Syracuse

C) Agrigentum

D) Panormus

Answer · why

A) Messana

Messana: the Mamertines, Italian mercenaries who had seized the city, begged both Rome and Carthage for help against Syracuse, and their two rescuers ...